Silvio Berlusconi Nude Photos to Horrify Italian Tabloid Readers?

We've marveled
at Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's ability to remain in
office despite his fondness for Holocaust
jokes, underage Moroccan runaways named Ruby
the Heart Stealer, and 'bunga bunga' parties
at his villa outside Milan, which include everything you'd expect from a
'bunga bunga' party hosted by Silvio Berlusconi. How to explain the
man's remarkable resiliency? We'd suggest that the 74-year-old embattled
prime minister--like countless other 74-year-old embattled prime
ministers before him--has benefited from the press heretofore refraining from
publishing any photos of the aging prime minister "naked in the company
of young women."

That could be changing, now Italian tabloids
are in a bidding war for new images of Berlusconi "naked in the company
of young women." Reporting from Venice, The Telegraph's Nick
Squires says 1 million euros is the starting bid for the photos
"alleged to have been taken by one or more of the showgirls who attended
the Italian prime minister’s so-called 'bunga bunga' parties at his
mansion outside Milan." (Of course.) Berlusconi says it's nonsense, but has already "filed
complaints with judicial authorities and Italy’s privacy watchdog as a
precaution against publication." (Also, of course.)

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Ray Gustini is the author of Lucky Town, a forthcoming book about sports in Washington, D.C. He is a former staff writer for The Atlantic Wire.